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The
art of cowardice
Rejoice Ngwenya
August 01, 2010
Considering the new wave
of xenophobic attacks against black Zimbabweans, some black South
Africans now have to concede that they are a brood of insecure,
spineless cowards. I have literally grown up with these cowards,
lived with them in exile, conferenced, drank and shopped with them
in their fancy boulevards and arcades. Under that veneer of happy-go-lucky
hypocrisy, their limited intellect seethes with nothing but venomous
contempt for other Africans, especially us Zimbabweans, Mozambicans,
Zambians and Malawians. You encounter sales assistants in South
African shops and all you see is contemptuous hatred in their eyes,
spite for your money as they peer suspiciously at it as if it has
been puked by a dragon. Even when I check into five-star hotels
at Rosebank, I have to grope around for ideal seating while the
receptionists scurry around for attention of Japanese guests in
anticipation of a miserly tip. I guess we need to appreciate that
their Ubuntu deserted them as a result of three hundred years of
plunder and mental abuse by the Boers. To them, anything white is
God-sent. But I have good news for the enlightened few: it is only
an insecure, good-for-nothing pea brain that would kill someone
solely on the basis of ethnicity. Just like Hitler, Amin, Stalin,
Bokassa and Sadam Hussein, Paul Kagame, ZANU-PF hooligans in June
2008 et al - xenophobic South Africans are a pathetic excuse
for humans.
The 1-7 August 2010 week, I hear, is national science week in that
country, but sad to say, xenophobia is not rocket science, otherwise
there would have been a genius from some village high school in
Tlokoyandou, Limpopo Province, with a perfect wonder cure. Unfortunately,
it is neither a medical condition nor physical deformity, but plain
stupidity. I guess I am asking for too much to expect an average
primary school dropout from Soweto to notice how the world has moved
ahead riding the wave of human diversity. Sadly, there are millions
of such second grade humans in that country, from the dry lands
of Limpopo to the shores of The Cape. These idle minds are too busy
worrying about where to get their next glass of home-brewed bear;
pondering which Shabeen will be first to play the next big Kwaito
[local house music]song, instead of creating own jobs. Their obsession
is what Zimbabwean stud lays which South African woman, and what
sort of punishment matches the 'transgression-. If they
had a morsel of intellect, I would remind them that the world-s
best civilisation - United States of America - is a
potpourri of ethnic diversity. If Americans had continued agonising
on how to perfect Adolph Hitler-s poisonous doctrine of Aryan
purity, they would still be living in tin shacks and using bucket
toilets in Harlem like South Africans do in Khayelitsha! Good gracious
me, which planet has these clowns tumbled from?
Considering that in the 1990s, scores of Zimbabweans lost their
lives and property harbouring parents of these social rejects, the
blame lies purely on the African National Congress-s [ANC]
political ideology of false promises. But unlike our own Marxist-Leninist
dunderheads in Harare, true ANC cadres no longer beat up those who
do not agree with them. The remnant legion of Zimbabwean-haters
thrives on a mentality of cowardice and fear, and then convinces
equally gullible neighbours that poverty is caused by African aliens.
The net result? Xenophobia.
Fear and cowardice are the twin evils of African politics. Here
in Zimbabwe, after thirty years of violent repression, a typical
Zimbabwean will not say much against political order or any system
for that matter without glancing over their shoulder. The consequences
are devastating. We have become so accustomed to service delivery
abuse that mediocrity and compliance are now in the DNA our social
behaviour. Zimbabweans wait for someone to say something, and they
join with a 'we knew it all along- chorus. Fear and
coward mentality!
This reminds me of a Mr Dzikamai Mavhaire, a close ally of Robert
Mugabe who, at the height of ZANU-PF-s one party state euphoria
in the 1990s, bravely defied all political odds and said something
to the effect: "Mr Mugabe must go; he should give way to new
party leadership." There was hue and cry from his delusionary
party, but he became an instant cult hero in the 'democratic
movement-. As you read this rebellious treatise, twelve million
Zimbabweans of progressive political ideology would want to show
Mr Mugabe the flashing political exit, but we have had absolutely
no clue on how to go about this noble democratic exercise since
1985. Villagers have been pummelled into prostrate submission while
urbanites are routinely reduced to dysfunctional robots that worry
too much about day to day survival at the expense of long-term political
wisdom.
At petrol service stations, councils, churches, schools, public
buses - Zimbabwean citizens are abused, but the most they
can do is to wait and see, hoping that the next day will bring better
tidings. Grocery supermarkets compel us to buy merchandise we do
not need because they stock no loose change, and we take this punishment
without so much as twitching an eyebrow. Are we cabbages or what!
No wonder South Africans and Tswanas trample on us - we have
learnt - or rather more accurately, ZANU-PF has taught us
to take a beating with a smile. In the crowded lounges of London,
Washington and Sidney, Zimbabwean Diaspora cower behind superficial
self-reassurance that it is impossible to return home and rid ourselves
of the myopic scourge of ZANU-PF politics: " Hee bakithi,
sizophindela njani ekhaya uMgabe esabusa?." ["How on
earth can we return to Zimbabwe during Mugabe-s reign? ].
My advice to the ANC government is that xenophobic attacks on my
countrymen are not an illusion, but direct result of false promises
of jobs and housing. But those assaulting Zimbabweans will have
to wait another hundred years before a government can deliver jobs.
Governments do not deliver, they devour. For my fellow citizens
in Alexander, Kya Sands, Soweto and Westham - I say swallow
your pride, rid yourselves of fear and return home to fight against
fascism. The battle is about to be won.
Rejoice
Ngwenya is director of Coalition for Liberal Market Solutions and
an affiliate of AfricanLiberty.org
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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